The World We Live Now
by marnthemiz
Summary: After being starved for help, the group almost seems broken and everything's changed. At the Dairy Farm, they lost the little girl in Harmony and maybe the little boy in Duck. Now, the two must stick by each other knowing nowhere is safe, not anymore. As they say, fight the dead and fear the living.


Other than the rustles of the leaves under their feet, there was a deafening silence that echoed around the Macon survivors. It felt like they had walked miles; it felt even further than the way there was. _There. _They thought that the luck had finally struck them. For the first time in the last three months they were going to receive a hot dinner to fill their tums. A hot dinner made up of a Mark's legs, and it made poor Duck's skin crawl at the thought, for he had eaten the most out of them all. It had been close. They could have all died in that meat locker today and they were lucky to even be alive right now. Their lives had been changed that day, they realised that the world had changed. You know. Fight the dead, fear the living. Nowhere and no ONE was safe. Not anymore. As Duck kicked at the stones that covered the ground, he shot several glances over to the poor girl, his friend, who was draped over Ben's back. Her body was caked in her own blood, and the red liquid from her gunshot wound had seeped through onto Ben's jacket. He wouldn't be happy. But the most important thing now was to get the injured girl quickly back to safety. Ben stopped every now and then to hitch the girl a bit higher up his back, to stop her falling, although she kept slipping down, not giving the poor teenager any help. The other survivors struggled with their own loads, as they had taken a good majority of the supplies in the car they had found earlier, full of food, medicines, bandages and things like that. They had some, not too much, but it would definitely last a while. Well, hopefully. Duck looked at the girl again. Her pale face got whiter, more ghostly, every minute. He began to worry. Was she dead or..

'_Sleeping,'_ Duck's inner voice assured him. It didn't work, in fact, it made him worry more.

Usually, at a time like this, the blonde would look after him. He would clutch onto her hand and she'd play with him and cheer him up. She ALWAYS would. But now he was unsure.

Her arms hung limply over Ben's front, who was clearly uncomfortable and struggling with her dead weight. Duck looked at the other survivors. His Dad and mom walked hand in hand, Kenny's expression was plagued with guilt and sadness, his eyes not leaving the floor. Katjaa attempted to make conversation with him to take his mind of his unhappiness, but was unsuccessful when all Kenny replied with was a grunt, or half of the time, nothing.

'Duck, are you okay?' Clementine's sweet little voice filled the air. She had broken away from Lee.

'Uh, yeah. Just fine!' He lied, using his usual enthusiastic and excited voice to cover it up. 'New jumper?'

'Yeah. Lee found it in the car.' She replied glumly.

'What's the matter? I'd sure as hell be happy to wear the jumper if you don't want it.' Duck answered, rubbing his bare arms with his hands. Clementine's nose twitched.

'I do! I just.. I don't feel right taking something that's not rightfully ours. It could've been anyone's, wanting to survive, just like us.' She exhaled heavily, a frown entering onto her face. Duck shrugged before he ran off ahead, bored out of his mind. He thought there'd be more pathway ahead, but was almost disappointed when he found the Motor-Inn across the road.

'We're home!' He grinned, trying to push in some excitement into the surrounding guilt and silence. His mom and dad smiled weakly back at him.

'Come on, little man, bed time.' Kenny ruffled his hair affectionately.

'But but..' Duck began sadly before Katjaa stopped him.

'No buts, Duck. You can see Harmony first thing tomorrow morning.' Katjaa told him, as Kenny pushed back the large bins that they used for gates. He huffed out in annoyance, but obeyed his parents by running off to the room he shared with his mom and dad. Ben laid Harmony's limp body gently down onto the back of a truck and Katjaa tended to her immiediatly, not wasting any more time, thats if she had any more time left.

Katjaa couldn't believe what had gone down at the Diary Farm, the way that Harmony had stepped into her son's defence and been shot in the stomach at her attempts. Katjaa and Kenny would've done the same thing, of course, but she'd got there before the couple even had a chance. Now the girl was most certainly going to die, and it was partly their fault. Katjaa removed the girls t-shirt, even in the cold, frosty night air, and Ben's cheeks flushed red.

'W-Wow. I'm so glad we're back. I- Uh. I'm so tired.' Ben broke the silence that followed, drawing his gaze away from the girl. 'Did.. Did they really eat p-people there?' Katjaa nodded, examining the wound.

'It looks like she's going to be okay. I honestly cant find any pieces of bullet anywhere, it might have come loose on the trip back.' She muttered, more to herself than to Ben. Ben yawned loudly.

'Well.. If she's uh, going to be okay.. I think I might hit the sack.' Ben replied, disguising the worry for his friend in his tone. Katjaa nodded again, as she wrapped the wound up with the bandages they'd retrieved from the car.

'Uh, Ben, I thought we cleared this up that your on first watch.' Lee interrupted, stopping the boy dead in his tracks.

'Oh, damn.' Ben said, before he yawned again.

'It's okay, Ben. I can do it,' Lee replied, holding up his hand.

'Y-You dont have to do that. I mean, its uh, the least I can do.' Ben replied, trudging over to the RV.

'Or I can,' A voice innocently replied. They turned back to the girl, who had finally woken up, who was resting upon her forearms, colour finally refilling her cheeks.

'Harmony!' Ben coughed. 'Y-Y-You're awake.'

'Nice observation.' She smirked. She pulled on her dirty t-shirt that she was wearing before.

'Sure you dont want a clean one?' Lee asked with a laugh.

'I'll be just fine,' she assured him, returning the giggle. 'Well, I guess I'll see you two in the morning?'

'No, Harmony, you.. You're injured. I can do it fine.'

'I've been sleeping on your back for about 2 hours, I'm not sleepy anymore.' She gave him a wink, making him blush once more.

'W-Wait.. You were awake?' Ben asked, shocked.

'Maybe.' She shrugged before she slid off of the truck back. She grimaced.

'No, you need to go to bed, I think,' Katjaa laughed, and Harmony growled in response. She was fine! Well, thats what she thought.


End file.
